Good News and More About the Give-Away!

Thanks to the wonderful advice of Honora at the blog"Pondside House" I got rid of the nasty blog posts.  Her blog is very pretty .  I love it because she is very poetic with many of her posts.  Thanks so much Honora!! Now a bit more information on the give away.  The date on the chart is 2003, so it is definitely out-of-print. I forgot to say that I will be drawing the name on Sunday Jan. 26th.  If you would like to be included, please leave a comment on my LAST post. Here is a bit more information.

 I got this chart when the designer was stopping her design business.

 My photo yesterday did not include the cute little saying at the bottom.  I'm stitching that now.

The directions are also given  to stitch this as a cute heart shaped pillow. 

Thanks to all of you who tried to help with my blog issue and good luck with the drawing.

Cross Stitch, Gardening, and a Give Away!

Thanks so much to all of you who expressed support for our Seahawks!  Things have settled down just a bit for a short time.  I have put my mind back on "normal" things.  First, I'll explain yesterday's problem.  The nasty posts were not on my comments.  Somehow this blog was in my list of blogs that posted recently on my dashboard.   We looked at my list of blogs that I follow and it was not there.  I have no idea how it got on that list.  For the time being I am just skipping all the posts.  Hopefully ignoring them will make them go away.  We did try to report it to Google but that didn't work.  Now on to much better things.  I am almost finished with "Hearts and Flowers" by Carriage House Samplings. It is an older chart so I have decided to give it away when I am finished ( 2 or 3 days).  If you would like this chart, just let me know in the comments on this post.  I'm also showing you a few pretty pictures from my yard walk today.

 The linen is Lakeside Linen Sand Dune, much prettier than the drab looking linen in this photo.

 Here is my crazy daffodil that thinks it is Spring!

It's relatives have the good sense to stay in the ground!

 I love Witch Hazel trees this time of year!  They are covered with pretty blooms. We need to go over to the UW Arboretum.  They have many different varieties and colors.

 These flowers have a nice smell.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and thanks so much for joining me!

A question

First, thanks to all of you who wished the Seahawks well!  Thank you!!!!! Here is a problem I am having on the blog.  I got many x-rated blog posts showing up on my list of posts. The DH and I are trying to figure out how to ban a blog from posting on my blog site.  I never gave this blog permission and don't have any idea how it got there.  We want to find a way to prevent these posting or delete them.   Any ideas?  There must have been 15 or more different posts.Oh, and by the way, we only looked at one to see if they were for real.  YUK!!!!!!! thanks for any help you can give me.

A Great day in Seattle!

YEA ! - THE HAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!

The Northwest Obsession!!!

If you live any where near Seattle , I'm sure you have heard (many times) about a football  game tomorrow. (SeaHawks vs the 49er's for the NFL title). It has been fun seeing how involved and excited everyone has become.  We have what is known as the 12th man.  These are fans.  I should say REAL fans.  At the stadium, they try to register on our earthquake monitors. They have done so twice.  They also have broken  the noise level at a stadium and are in  the book of Guinness World Records. I'm here to tell you it is even very noisy on the TV, almost too loud for my liking. The 12th man does include all fans, even those who can't get tickets to the games.  As we were doing errands I took some pictures just to give you an idea of what is going on out here.

 These cookies are in honor of two favorite players, Lynch, who they call the beast, and Wilson, the cute young quarterback.

 Just to honor the fans.

These are from another bakery, the one in Poulsbo.  In fact, all the rest of the pictures are from Poulsbo.

 All kinds of memorabilia from the window of a little gift/antique shop.

 A great little coffee shop!

 

 Same little coffee shop.

 Our great little book store.

 Another coffee shop.

Even the Viking who welcomes everyone to Poulsbo is a fan today!

A private home on our street.

My favorite 12th man.  GO SEAHAWKS!

A brief Cross Stitch Update and Go Seahawks!

Many thanks to all of you who wished me well.  I am doing so much better but it seems that lots of people out here are getting the same thing.  It is a nasty virus that visits your chest and then makes it's home in your sinuses! Maybe it is partly because while the rest of you have been freezing we are sitting at the mid 40's.  It has been very rainy and gloomy the last few days.  Today is a HUGE day around here.  The Seahawks are playing the Saints and we are right in the middle of a rain/wind storm!!! I said I would not go even if I had tickets but the DH and the SIL would go no matter what! The good news is none of us have tickets! So we will watch the game in our warm cozy homes.
We are planning a trip to Arizona for a few days the end of the month.  We will be visiting my SIL.  That

 means I can go to the Attic.  I have heard about that shop and Chris at the blog, Tot Hill Farm Stitches, highly recommended it.  Maybe I can solve my color problem with the old sampler there. Meanwhile, I am enjoying the CHS design.  It is just perfect for Feb. full of hearts and flowers.

I hope you all have a great week-end! Stay warm and for us,dry!  And of course, Go Hawks!

Cross stitch and Snowmen

A nasty virus has kept me from updating this blog! It came on me New Year's Day and is just now getting better. I really appreciate all your encouraging comments about my antique sampler project.  I now know the problems facing the designers who reproduce antique samplers.  I stitched half the border.  When I added the alphabet, I did not like the way it looked.  The little stitcher used different colors for each letter.  The first thing I did was change the linen.  Again I stitched half the border and ran into the same problem when I added the alphabet.  It looked more like a colorful circus poster than an old sampler.  The new plan is to put it away until I can get to a needlework shop that has a good selection of floss.  I still plan to stitch the sampler.  The design will be accurate to her design but not the colors.  I chose a quick little pattern to do in the mean time.
 As I have seen on many blogs, snowmen are coming out all over the place.  I have just a few to share with you.  I'm so glad the temperatures have moderated a bit.  All of you in the frozen parts of this country have been on my mind.

 I have had this chart for quite a long time.  I thought it would be perfect for February. Plus I think it has  a folk art look which I like.

 January Word Play is on the wall.  I changed the word snowman to white and mittens and January to Mulberry.

This is one I did many years ago. I just have it out for Jan. and Feb. I think it is a Homespun Elegance design.

I found this cutie on sale before Christmas.  Most of the designs had  signs with Merry Christmas.  I chose this one so I could use it in Jan. I have it on the blanket chest in the entry.

 

Finally a Woolpets snowman in my antique fish bowl.

Thanks so much for joining me and stay warm and healthy!!

A New Year and a New Project

Thanks so much to all of you who joined me on my winter walk!  I hope those of you in the Mid-West and the East are staying warm.  Your weather has made big news out here and I have all of you in my thoughts.  Stay warm and safe!!
I want to share my next project with you.  Last winter my sweet sister gave me an old sampler. Here are photos of it. You are able to see it - (  Here ). As it was winter and he was a bit bored, my DH charted the old sampler.  You can see it -(  Here ). I don't know how I became distracted but I never stitched it.  This was the year!! Last night I stitched part of the border.  I am very excited about this project.  It will be truly one of a kind but more importantly, I feel it is a tribute to the young girls who stitched the early samplers. They didn't have the choices we have today in fabric and floss.  I have tried to stay fairly close to the colors she chose but I am stitching on 28 count linen and hers was a much bigger count, closer to 25. 
Thanks again to my DH, the genealogist, we found Elizabeth  her family in England in 1881.
Here is my very humble beginning:

The border she chose was a bit more orange, but I like this color much better. 

Thanks for joining me today and I hope the week-end will be great for all of you.

A Mid-Winter Walk

It is so hard to believe that 2013 will be over tonight!  We are not big celebrators of New Year's Eve so we are having dinner with good friends and will be home by 10.  Now fireworks are a big thing here so it might be a bit hard to sleep around mid-night but I will be trying.
I tried to get my Word Play for Jan finished but I think it will be tomorrow not today.  I am going to show my  start for the new year tomorrow.  Today, I'm taking you for a walk around our yard.  Our average temps this time of year are in the 40's. I hope you enjoy this short walk.

 This is one of two planters by the garage.  It looked very sad after our very cold snap in Dec. but it has come back nicely.

 A red twig dogwood at the front entrance.

We use this little front porch a lot.  It is covered and we often sit out there and read or have our coffee even in the winter.

This bush is called Garrya Elliptica.

We planted it because of this winter interest.  Some call them flowers.

I love the dogwood, mid-winter fire. It is spectacular when it snows!

 I hope the front door says welcome.

 Helleboras niger,"Winter Rose" is blooming right now!

These Hellebors are on their way!

The little Anna's hummingbird we fed through the cold spell each morning very early as they feed around sunrise.  ( I do have a very sweet DH, he did those early morning feedings).

Look who finally arrived !The pileated wood pecker.

Have a great New Year's Eve and a most Happy  and healthy New Year to you all!!!!!!

A Gift and Some Cross Stitch

This post is full of thank-yous!  First, to all of you who read my blog. Second,a special thanks to those who comment.  A huge third to Veronica at the blog,"An Arizona Stitcher" I won her give-away.  I was very lucky. She is a great stitcher so if you haven't seen her blog, I suggest you head over there for a look.  In addition to the wonderful things in the photo, she included a gift certificate for $30 to 123 Stitch.  I use them all the time!! I already have planned what I will order. I'll show you that later.  For now, here are my goodies:

 The little buttons are a Christmas tree and a cute little snowman plus a needle slide, a cute little clip  and a magnet.

 Here is the beautiful sachet. She included this partly because I knew the pattern and chart.  The minute I saw it on Veronica's blog I recognized the chart.  Last winter I stitched "The Christmas Garden"  by BBD.  As I was stitching it , I thought that several of the motifs would make great little designs.  Here is one of the trees.  I love it.  Plus, the sachet has a wonderful holiday smell!

Here is the very pretty back with a wool tree. Thanks so much Veronica!!

My current project-  when I finish this , I'll have all the Word Play's finished except, December (I was waiting for this fabric), June, and Oct. I love all of Brenda's designs!

I'm sort of doing a 12 days of Christmas idea this year so all my decorations will be up for a while.  We are having friends for dinner tomorrow and my DD and I had a wonderful day in the city(Seattle) yesterday! I hope you all have a very good week-end and I had better say, GO HAWKS!!!!!

The Day After

First, a big thanks to all of you who wished me and my family a Merry Christmas.  We did have a nice day.  We were invited, along with our DD and SIL, to his parents home for Christmas dinner.  We had a very delicious dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the company. Normally, I would not show gifts but this year, the gifts came from the hearts of our children.

  Isn't this the best Santa ever?!! Our DD made him for us.  I just love him!

 This picture was taken by our SIL in Tofino BC.  He titled it "The laughing Eagle. "

Our son sent photos of our wonderful grand children. This is lovely Hannah.

 And her handsome brother, Caleb.

 Our beautiful DIL and Hannah.

Here she is with Caleb. We loved those pictures that she sent to us!!

The ending of a wonderful day.  Albert our sweet grand-dog!